Clutch.



H, T. HERB.

CLUTCH.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 6, 1913.

1,245,718. Patented Nov. 6,1917.

U n (\l INVENTOR. I L; I Q\EUM M 3m): 1x"). uwx' HIS ATTORNEY I N FACT.

HERBERT T. HERB, OF PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA.

I CLUTCH. U I

' To all whom it may concern:

ject to provide means for I two shafts is a clutch including two com Beit known that I, HERBERT T. HERB, a citizen of .the United States, and aresident of Pittsburgh, in the county of Allegheny and State ofPennsylvania, have made a new and useful Invention in Clutches, of whichthe following is a specification.

This invention relates to a fluid actuated friction clutch and has forits primary obpreventing end thrusts when the clutch is applied.

Another object of the invention is to provide means whereby the drivingshaft and the driven shaft may be effectively connected together by.fluid pressure actuating means.

'Other objects and advantages, as well as the numerous details ofconstruction of the invention will appear hereinafter, it beingunderstood that changes in form, proportion, .and minor details ofconstruction may be resorted to without departing from the spirit of theinvention or sacrlficing any of its advantages.

In the drawings: v

Figure 1 is a vertical longitudinal sectional view through a clutchmechanism constructed in accordance with my invention;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary sectional view. through a piston, sleeve, andwedge, form-' ing art of the clutch illustrated, and a telescopic boltfor. limiting the relative movement between the arts.

The clutch herein illustrated is shown as comprising a driving memberand a driven member, together with two sets of interleaving frictiondisks so arranged that when pressure is applied one set of disks willbind on those of the other so as to lock the driving membenand thedriven member together. A plurality of packing rings are also shown toprevent the escape of air or other actuating fluid which maybe appliedto the clutch. The clutch-holding members may be balanced so as toprevent end thrust if desire or either member may be caused topreponderate over the other and cause pressure to be applied to thepacking ring to prevent the escape of the actuating fluid.

Referring to the drawings by numerals of reference:

1 designates the driving shaft, as for example, the shaft of a motor,and 2 designates the driven shaft. Interposed between theseSpecification of Letters Patent.

Application filed June 6, 1913. Serial No. 772,108

Patented Nov. 6, 191 *7.

' having a fluid inlet 5*. The driven shaft 2 is illustrated as hollowand is mounted in bearing 7 and carries the member 3 and a pistoncylinder 8 forming apart of the member 3. The piston cylinder is adaptedto move longitudinally of the shaft 2, but as shown it will rotate withit within the clutch casing. Within the cylinder 8 is a piston 9 made upof the parts 9 and 10, this construction being employed for conveniencein vinserting a suitable leather packing ring or any other packingbetween the two parts 9 and 10. The part 10 is sleeved on thecylindrical portion 15 of the piston and carries a plurality of disks 11which surround the sleeved portion 12 of the part 10 and whichinterleave with disks 13 secured to the diskcarrying member 14 of thepart 4. The sleeved portion 15 of the member 9 is threaded to the hub 16of disk 17, said disk having a central reverse tubular portion 18 withinwhich is a spring seat 19. One end of a spring 20 bears against thespring seat jection on the end of the shaft 2, which in actual practicemay be a continuation of the driven shaft2. Within the space surroundedby the'flange 23 is a spring 24 one end of which bears against thespring seat 19 and the other end of which bears against a plunger25slidable within the flange 23 and adapted to bear against the flat key26 which extends through slots in the two sleeved portions12 and 15 ofthe piston 9 and through the slotted portions of the shaft 2, as well asinto recesses 27 in the-cvlinder 8, this key being so arranged that thecylinder 8, the piston 9, and the driven shaft 2 must all rotatetogether, although the piston and its cylinder may have longitudinalmovement independent of each otherand independent of the remainingelements. The shaft 2 is provided with elongated slots 28 and 28adjacent to the end of flange 23, and by reference to Fig. 2, it will beobserved that an extensible bolt 29 projects through openings in theflange 23 and has its free ends extending into the slQtS 28 and 25 5 sothat 1on1 gitudinal derates over that of the spring 20 and that e theplunger 25 will be forced against the key 26 so as to normally keep thecylinder 8 packed against the shoulder 30 of the member 5 of the casing,there being a packing pad 31 therebetween for this purpose. Thedisk-carrying member 4 is provided with laterally projecting fingers 32which carry disks 13 interleaving with disks 11, and a compression plate32, which is rigidly secured to them. The member 14 is shown as beingmounted in a sliding bearing 34 so that when pressure is supplied to theinside of the casing, there may be a slight longitudinal movement of themember 14 so as to insure packing of the member against the shoulder 35,between which and the member 14 is interposed a packing pad 36 toprevent the escape of air or oil, or both. The member 4 will normally beheld sufliciently tight for all practical purposes against the shoulder35 by the spring 20. If the parts are properly assembled and pressure isadmitted into the casing, it being understood that there is a fluidpressure chamber within the casing surrounding the clutching parts ofthe mechanism, the pressure will exert force in a direction from rightto left against the cylinder 8 and pack thetcylinder against the insideof the casing at 30; likewise pressure exerted against the member 4 fromleft to right will be efii'ective in packing. the member 4against theinterior of the casing at 35 so the interior of the casing between thepoints 30 and 35 will be sealed except for the inlet 5. Just as soon asthepressure begins to accumulate, the pressure exerted on the piston 9consisting of the members 9 and 10 will force the piston into itscylinder 8 from right to left and cause the interleaving disks to bindtogether by frictional contact so as to lock the driving shaft and thedriven shaft together. As soon as pressure is'relieved', the spring24will move the piston in a direction in opposition to that imparted to itby the pressure; that is, from left to right, and move the disks out ofclutching engagement so that the shaft 1 may rotatelindependently of theshaft 2. As the exposed parts of one member; that is, the parts exposedto pressure, are equal in area to the parts exposed to pressure by theother member, the clutch will be balanced and not subjected to endthrusts as is usually the case with clutches now generally employed.While the clutch is here shown as being balanced, it is obvious that theparts may be so designed that there may be a preponderance of pressurein either direction so as to insure the packed parts being perfectlytight during the operation thereof.

The operation of the apparatus is as follows: When fluid pressure isadmitted to the interior of the casing through the port 5 the piston 9is moved into its cylinder 8 by reason of the fact that it is exposed onone side only to the pressure within the easing and on the other side tothe atmosphere, the interior of the cylinder being exposed toatmospheric pressure through the clearance spaces around the key 26. Themember 4 is moved in the opposite direction bythe pressure delivered tothe casing and in this way the interleaving disks, l1 and 13, are movedinto clutching engagement with each other. During this relative movementof the clutch members the spring 24, located between the cylinder 8 andthe piston 9, is compressed and the cylinder 8 is forced into packingengagement with the casing 5 by the pressure of spring 24. As the member4 moves in response to the fluid pressure within the casing it pressesthe packing 36 against the casing and consequently both ends of thecasingare sealed. By proportioning the exposed area of the member 4 sothat it is substantally equal to the exposed area of the piston 9, thefluid pressure within the casing acting onone clutch member iscounterbalanced by the effective pressure on the other member andconsequently the clutch mechanism does not impart an end thrust toeither the driving or driven shaft. In the drawin the area of the member4, exposed to unba anced fluid pressure, is substantially equal to thearea of the piston 9 and consequently the lateral thrust of one clutchmember is counter-balanced by the lateral thrust on the other member.When the pressure is released from the casing the spring 24 moves theclutch members out of clutching engagement. Under such conditions thespring 20, which as has been said is of less strength than the spring24, is'partially compressed, and it acts to move both the clutch membersinto packing engagement with the ends of the casing 5.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. A clutch mechanism comprising a -cas-' ing having a pressuredeliveryport communicating with an inclosed pressure chamber, cooperating clutchmembers located within 'said chamber and movable into clutchingengagement in response to pressure introduced into the chamber, adriving shaft projecting into the casing and operatively secured to oneof said members, a driven shaft projecting into the casing andoperatively secured to the other member, and a packing between eachmember and the casing, for sealing the ends of the casing.

2. A clutch comprising a casing having an opening-at each end, a drivingshaft projecting into the casing at one end, a driven shaft projectinginto the other end of the casing,

a fluid chamber formed within the casing,

\ in, the chamber,said clutch elements having means for sealing-the endsof the chamber.

3. A clutch mechanism comprising a stationary'casinghaving a pressureinlet port communicating with an inclosed pressure chamber, tworelatively movable clutch members located within said casing and movableinto clutching engagement in response to pressure within the chamber, aseparate shaft projecting into the casing and operatively connected toeach member, and a packing between each member and the casing forsealing the opening in the casing through which the cooperating shaftprojects. 4. A clutch comprising a casing inclosing a fluid pressurechamber and provided with a fluid inlet communicating with said chamber,two clutch members in the fluid pressure chamber, one of which comprisesa cylinder and piston and the other of which comprises a disk carryingmember, and interleaving disks, on the respective clutch members, thoseon-on'e member being adapted to bind against those on the other.

5. A clutch comprising a casing having a fluid pressure chamber withopemngs'at its respective ends, two clutch members adapted to movementsin opposite directions to close the respective ends of said chamber, andmeans on one of the clutch members for engaging the other member.

6. A clutch comprising a casing having a fluid. chamber, two clutchmembers one of which comprises a cylinder and piston within the chamber,means for permitting longitudinal movement of the piston with relationto the cylinder, but preventing rotative movement with respect to thesetwo, and means on the respective clutch members for locking said memberstogether.

7 A clutch mechanism comprising a casing having a pressure delivery portcommunicating with an inclosed pressure chamber, cooperating clutchmembers located within the chamber, one of which comprises a piston anda cylinder, and springs for moving said members out of operativeengagement with each other and for pressing the cylinder forming a partof one member into packing engagement with the casing." 8. A clutchmechanism comprisin a sta tionarycasing having a pressure in ct portcommunicating with an inclosed pressure chamber, two relatively movableclutch members located within said; pressure chamber and movable intoclutching engagement with each other in response to pressure within saidchamber, one of said members being formed in two parts, a separate shaftprojecting into the casing and operatively connected to each member, apacking between one of the parts of, said two-part member and thecasing, and a spring for forcing one part of said two-part memberagainst said packing and thereby sealing the opening between thecooperating shaft and the casing.

9. A clutch mechanism comprisin a stationary casing having a pressureelivery port communicating with an inclosed pressure chamber, and twoclutch members located within'said chamber and responsive in operationto pressure delivered to said chamber, the unbalanced areas exposed topressure within said chamber of each of said members being substantiallyequal whereby.

the actuating pressure on one member is counterbalanced by the pressureon the other.

10. A clutch mechanism comprising a casing having an inlet portcommunicatingwith the interior of the casing and an opening at each end,two clutch members located within the casing, and so arranged that fluidpressure admitted thereto moves said members into clutching engagement,a

spring for yieldingly holding said members element projecting into thecasing, rela-.

tively movable clutch members, one being mounted on said driving elementand one on said driven element, said members having surfaces exposed tounbalanced fluid pressure within said casing for moving them intoclutching engagement in response to fluid pressure admitted through saidport, a spring for yieldingly holding said membersout of clutchingengagement and packings carried by said members for sealing the jointsbetween said casing and said elements.

12. A clutch mechanism-comprising a casing having a fluid inlet port,two relatively movable clutch members located withinthe casing andresponsive in operation to fluid pressure admitted to said casingthrough said port, a driving element projecting into said casing onwhich one of said members is mounted, a driven element projecting intosaid casing 'on which the other clutch member is mounted, packingscarried by said members-for sealing the joints between the I casing andsaid elements, a spring between said. members for normally holding themembers out of clutching engagement, and

ing having a fluid inlet port, two relatively movable clutch memberslocated within said casing and adapted to be moved into clutchingengagement by fluid pressure admitted through said port, one of saidmembers being formed in two relatively movable parts, a packing forsealing one end of the casing mounted on one of the parts of said twopart member, a packing carried by the other member for sealing the otherend of the casing, and springs for holding said members out of clutchingengagement and for pressing said members into packing engagement withthe casing, one of said springs being located between the parts of saidtwo part member.

14. A clutch mechanism comprising a casing having a fluid inlet portcommunicating with the interior thereof, a driving element projectinginto one end of the casing, a driven element projecting into the otherend of the casing, a separate clutch member mounted on each element andresponsive to fluid pressure admitted to I said casing through said portfor operatively connecting said elements together, the unbalanced areasexposed to fluid pressure within the casing on one of said members beingsubstantially .equal to the unbalanced areas of the other member wherebythe actuating fluid pressure on one member is counterbalanced by theactuating fluid'pressure on the other. H

15. A clutch mechanism comprising a casing havinga fluid inlet port andan opening at each end, a driving shaft projecting into the casing atone end, a driven shaft projecting into the casing at theother end, aclutch member mounted on the driving shaft, a two part clutch membermounted on the driven shaft, said member including a cylinder and apiston inclosed thereby for operating clutch elements adapted tofrictionally engage similar elements on the driven shaft, and responsiveto the pressure of fluid admitted at the inlet port and filling theinterior of the casing, said fluid being excluded from the interior ofthe cylinder by the piston.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name this 2nd day ofJune,

HERBERT T. HERB.

Witnesses i C. W. MGGHEE, ANNA CLoHER'rY.

